Thus Spake Mungo: It’s back!

Malcolm Turnbull is back from Japan and spruiking – indeed insisting, demanding that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Mark II must be implemented, legislated and ratified without delay because it will yield billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.

We had thought that the head had been lopped off the beast when Donald Trump pulled America out. But now, like a modern day Frankenstein, Turnbull has exhumed enough body parts to fabricate a new monster – not quite as scary as the original, but still quite threatening enough to keep the squeamish cowering under the blankets.

At least we believe that is the case; as always our open and inclusive government won’t tell us what is actually in it – that privilege is reserved for the big corporations, which may provide a clue to the pact’s real purpose.

The rebadged title certainly doesn’t: the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership is neither comprehensive nor progressive, cannot yet be described as a firm agreement, and may not even be trans-Pacific; our enthusiastic Trade Minister Steve Ciobo says that post-Brexit England could be included, if the beleaguered Poms have
nothing better to do.

And the partnership bit, as already hinted, seems confined to a small
group of rich and powerful politicians and and moguls the latter
expecting huge windfall gains, some of which may or may not trickle
down to the masses. And if they don’t what they want, they will have the
righto sue national governments until they do, which suggests that, as is
so often the case with such deals,, the real winners will be the lawyers.
This was the outcome when one of the tobacco merchants of death,
Phillip Morris, took the Australian government to court over its plain
packaging legislation, using the provisions of the Australia-Hong Kong
free trade agreement as its excuse. Eventually the government won, but
costs paid by Phillip Morris were a fraction of the expense to our national
treasury, even without including the huge diversion of time and resources
required in the action.

So we know just what to expect if the CPATPP gets through our
parliament. What we do not know is what else may be in the binding
documents, but the prospect is not promising. The billions of dollars
Turnbull is talking about will have little to do with Australia; even the
more optimistic estimates suggest an increase around one half of one per
cent of GDP over some 12 years – barely a rounding error for the
statisticians. And thousands of jobs? Well, a few more than 5000 over the long term, perhaps five a week if we’re lucky. Not really a reason for dancing in the streets.

But it was never all about the economic gains, even for the most
dedicated rent seekers. The strategic planners – especially in Australia,
Japan and South Korea – saw the original TPP as a means of locking
America involved in Asia as a permanent bulwark against the dominance
of China, whose government was pointedly excluded.

The theory was that American economic hegemony would translate into
military hegemony which would be regarded a a good thing – or at least a
much less worse thing than the alternative. As it turned out the
belligerence of North Korea and the somewhat equivocal attitude of
China has done the job anyway; against his natural isolationist instincts,
Trump has reluctantly remained involved in the region and appears to be
stuck there into the foreseeable future.

However, the refurbished (or rather bogged up) CPATPP staggers on, in
a slightly emasculated form, and things could be worse – and indeed they
may well be. It is reported that Trump is having a bit of a rethink; he may
be willing to return to the pact, but only on his terms.

Given that TPP Mark I was generally regarded as absurdly favourable to
American corporate interests, especially where copyright and patent law
(crucially regarding pharmaceuticals) the idea that Trump wants even
more is truly terrifying. America first, he declares, but not America alone
– today Mar a Lago, tomorrow the world. Total domination is the plan
and if the CPATPP can be harnessed to that end, let’s go for it.

Turnbull says that backing the new agreement will be a test for Bill
Shorten; it may well become a far more vital test for him to stand up to
the megalomaniac in the White House to protect the Australian national
interest rather than slavishly follow American neo-liberalism in the guise
of promoting economic growth

However Turnbull is clearly wedded to the idea, as it is part of his master
plan for stimulation (meaning the offer of hand outs) for the corporate
sector, in the hope that the gains will flow through to the economy more
generally. Economic history shows that this has never worked in the past,
and there is no reason to think that it might in 2018 just because our
Prime Minister once worked for a merchant bank.

In fact he, of all people, should know that if you throw a bucket of money
at the top end of town, almost all of it stays there: it is absorbed in profits
one way or the other, and while the shareholders (and of course the
already obscenely overpaid executives) may benefit, the mob seldom
does. The profit share in Australia has been steadily increasing for quite a
while, but wages are going backwards and more employers are finding
ways to cut staff and conditions than improve them. You only need to
look at the big banks to see the pattern.

But Turnbull continues to argue that big cuts in the company tax rate is
all that can stand between us and economic oblivion, and his sole
evidence for this assertion is apparently that Donald Trump has cut the
rates, so we have no option but to follow.

And presumably that will mean that if Trump comes back to the CPATPP
on any terms he demands, once again we will have no say in the matter –
we have to tickle the tummy of The Donald. Be afraid – be very afraid.

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10 responses to “Thus Spake Mungo: It’s back!”

Thank you Mungo,
You remain both entertaining, informative and a voice for reason
Above all I hope that we the public are slowly waking up to the fact the world including Australia is becoming more inequitable with the super rich and their companies gaining wealth through not only our labor but with the assistance of our political parties who wave them on to greater riches by reducing taxes
It is a fact that no where in the world hssvlowering taxes improved GDP or the well being of ordinary folks. We need to be taxing the wealth of the 1% not just their income and if they scream that they will go elsewhere then let them go because they are not assisting ordinary voters

Here’s how free trade agreements usually go:
Australia agrees to remove any and every restriction on the import of goods, services, labour, and bio-security hazards. In return, the trading partner agrees to gradually reduce the tariffs on a few of our exports from 50% to 45% over a period of 30 years.
Great deal! I’m not sure if our negotiaters are terrible or if they just get told to take any offer at all.
And the pollies trumpet how they have saved our industry by doing this….
Please, no more “free” trade agreements, we have few enough industries left as it is

Apart from the fact that the Australian public will not be able to view the documentation until after it is signed is a major concern. Doesn’t the Government trust the Australian people? And why won’t they allow the Productivity Commission undertake a cost-benefit analysis? However, what concerns me even more is the fact that foreign investors will be able to buy anything in Australia up to $1 billion dollars per transaction, without having the Foreign Investment Review Board determine if it is in Australia’s national interests. I can see Australia being turned into a food bowl for China, with the direct export of harvests, year after year. Signing this Trade Pact allowing this provision is abrogating Australian sovereignty. Remember when former Andrew Robb signed off on leasing the Port of Darwin to China when Trade Minister? The Port of Darwin was leased to the Chinese company Landbridge for 99 years, price $390 million. Signing this revised trade agreement will see more of that.

Yes, this pact will make corporations and individuals richer. Especially Australia’s Mining and Beef Queen (mate of Barmaby Joyce and the Libs/Nats.) Now that she got the Kidman Pastoral property, she wants to increase the number of Australian cattle to be sent off on those ships of death to China to be tortured and slaughtered–that’s what the Chinese, Koreans and Vietnamese do–they have the misguided belief the more an animal is made to suffer, the better the meat. We must stop the vile Live Export Trade!

Step back from the consumer society – stop buying the toys & distractions on offer which prevent seeing ones own exploitation.
The hippies were, and remain, right – it’s simple if not easy which is why the breadheads won.
As Byron demonstrates by its very existence, every moment of every day of every week of the year.

I wonder when it is going to dawn on people, not just in this country but all the so-called democracies, that if voting changed anything it would be illegal.

One of the 19thC US railway robber barons, Jay Gould was explicit “I can always hire enough of the working class to protect me from the rest”. (Anyone doubting that, check out the four brave cops beating the bejazus out of a stoned 16yo).
In Britain, USA & Oz squishy, feelly, kinda-sorta leftish leaders came into office on huge surges of public support & goodwill after years of misrule and brutalisation by the Right.
Within weeks rather than months, despite commanding majorities of both Chambers and having been elected promising change & hope, bLIAR, Krudd & BO had been shown the reality – they were in office but not in power – by the real owners and all three carried on carrying on, not a damned thing changed.
No matter for whom you vote, the government always wins.

Wow politics on heroin … I think I’ll stick to motor oil, at least I pay for what I get. You villagers have issues, really, with everything. What would be the preferred model? Carless planeless meatless senseless demographics, with lots of jobs for statistitions.

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